Evans
by Hazel Maraa
Summary: James, Remus said slowly, you love her. Get over it. Sirius laughed, that barking cackle of his, while James looked flabbergasted. Did you just...? Yes, Remus said flatly, I did. LJ
1. Anticipate

I disclaim.

_For love_

_But only for true love_

_Everlasting love_

_Beautiful love._

_Not the artificial imposter_

_that most people settle for._

_--_

Author Notes: Yeah, I know I just wrote a one shot yesterday, but then I was going through my actual diary today, and found a really adorable quote that I got from an xanga that was for quotes. Which is odd, admittedly, but oh well. The quote reminded me of James and Lily. (and yes, I will be expecting people to be all "awwwwwww" after they read the entire quote -narrowed eyes-) This'll be a four shot cause there are four parts to the quote. Well, read on!

_--_

_When you smiled, you had my undivided attention._

_--_

James Potter was very excited. He was riding _the_ train to Hogwarts. Hogwarts! He couldn't believe that he was actually going. Him! Okay, well, that part was a little more believable, considering he'd known about him going to Hogwarts since he was about five years young. And he was eleven now. Nearly an adult - but more importantly, nearly a _teenager_. He couldn't wait. The downside, though, was...

He didn't know anybody.

You'd think that he would be a really popular little first year, y'know, with his family being a very prominent and old pureblood wizarding family. But he wasn't! And it soaked him with sadness, as rain does to clothing. Wait a minute, that wasn't sadness, that was -

Water? What? James was sitting rigidly from the icy cold water. And shock. But mostly 'cause of the water. The _icy_ cold water. The icy _cold_ water. There was water. And there was a lot of it. A lot of really, really, really cold water.

"Hey, uh, dude, are you all right? I mean, yeah, uh, it was cold water, but dude, it, uh, wasn't _that_ cold..." The boy James hadn't known was there (It was _cold_ water, okay?!) trailed off, but then looked at James. "Okay, maybe it was. But still, uh, dude. No need to get shocked! 'Cause that would, uh, hurt a lot more, considering you're, uh, really wet." James stared at this black haired boy and his aristocrat face.

"I never would have guessed that, had you never told me." James said flatly to the other boy. The boy's grin faltered.

"Uh, dude, are you... y'know, _all right?"_ He said that oddly, like he didn't mean 'all right', but something... else. Huh. Odd.

"Yes. I am. And I am also very, very, very wet. And very, very, very cold. Now, if you'll please leave, I need to get some sort of heat circulating through my limbs again." James said snottily. The boy looked at James, and decided that he would ignore that last sentence. 'Cause who really needs heat circulating through their limbs anyway?

"Okay, uh, dude. My name's Sirius Black. Who are you?" Sirius decided that if the other kid couldn't get over his name then he wasn't worth it. James, however, didn't know this, and didn't particularly care. He was a _Black._ Evil by association.

"Well then you can leave. I'm sure you can see the door, and find your way to it accordingly." James was using these odd phrases and big words (to an eleven year young) to try and intimidate the Black. Sirius, knowing this (he grew up with those kind of people), mentally laughed at him. Of course, growing up with maniacs had made his laugh become like a dog barking. But the bark sounded like it was cackling. It was a very strange sound, let his cousins be the first to tell you.

"And I'm guessing you're one of those, uh, what d'you call 'em again?" Sirius scratched his head in thought. While James was trying to intimidate Sirius, Sirius was trying to make James laugh. It wasn't working very well. "Oh!" Sirius' eyes brightened with the declaration. "That's right! You're one of those, uh, drat, I lost it again. Lemme think here for a sec." Sirius was, in actuality, trying to find a word that sounded funny, but meant something like light people. This wasn't working very well either. "Oh forget it." Sirius rolled his eyes and started rummaging through his pockets. And he finally found his magical thesaurus/dictionary. "Okay, lessee(1). Search for... good and/or light people that have problems with other people's names..." When the book was done looking for his search, he blinked in surprise. "'Idiot; antagonist; loser; dumb; stupid; moronic; bad guy; foe; bandit; marauder; villain, gangster'. Geeze. That's messed up. You'd think they'd have some fancy word, like hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia or sesquipedalophobia. But those are both phobias, so I suppose not." James stared at him. "What?" Sirius asked defensively.

"Did you just call me a gangster?" James asked cautiously. Sirius laughed at him.

"Not technically, but I think it's funny that you said gangster, instead of any of the other eleven words I gave."

"And why would that be?" James asked, eyes narrowed. The other boy shrugged.

"No real reason, but you just proved something I've been working on correct, so thanks! And before you ask, I was testing the theory that the human brain only remembers the first or last thing in a list of items, people, places, et cetera." James sighed heavily. This was going to be a looooong trip.

Ten minutes later, a girl with shocking red hair opened the door. Sirius stopped talking (_Thank Merlin and the heavens above and below him,_ James thought), and glanced at the girl. James noticed her then.

"Hello! I'm James, and this is Sirius. Please save me." James muttered the last part to her desperately. She looked at him in bemusement.

"Uhh, I'm Lily. I was wondering if you," She was looking at Sirius, "are that really annoying kid that everybody is talking about down the train that has a theory or explanation about everything?" Sirius laughed, that barking cackle of a laugh again.

"I knew I'd be popular." Sirius said smugly.

"Yeah, popular, riiight." James rolled his eyes as he spoke.

"Well, I think you'll be happy to know that I didn't fall for it." Lily said with a smirk. Sirius groaned.

"Aww man! Although..." Sirius studied her. "I think we'll be good friends, Lily." Lily was still smirking.

"What are you guys talking about?" James asked, annoyed.

"He's a fake. He's not _really_ that smart. He just anticipated what you would talk about and studied up on it."

"Of course, Lily here isn't a fake, are you?"

"Of course not."

"Do you two know each other?" James was really out of the loop.

"Definitely not." The other two said together, then Lily smiled, and James felt his breath leave him. It was going to be a long year.

--

(1) - I don't mean the actual word, lessee, the one that means like a person/group or whatever that's got a lease granted to 'em. I mean the slurred "let's see" like, how I used "lemme" like, "let me". Okay? Okay. good.

Review... please?


	2. Double Damn

I disclaim.

--

_For me_

_Cause my muse seemed revived enough_

_to actually write._

_Yay. _

_--_

I kind of go into the relationship of the Marauders – that is, Remus, Sirius, and James's feelings about Peter. I definitely don't like them, but I can't help but feel like Peter became friends with the Marauders, then they started to like, grow out of him or something. I don't know, but I don't think it was only his fault, y'know? -sigh- I don't know. Anyways, review/enjoy/etc, etc.

-cough- A few obvious movie/song references throughout. Apologies. xD.

Also – apologies for the absurdly long wait. I want to say the third part won't be as long, but I wouldn't hope much hope out for that, yeah? I'm better with one-shots, -facepalm-. xD.

--

_When you laughed, you had me laugh with you._

_--_

"I think my brain just leaked out of my ear," commented Sirius. James looked at him from the corner of his eye and Remus blinked. Peter cocked an eyebrow.

"Did you tilt your head to the side?" he asked curiously. Sirius looked back at him slightly patronizing.

"And that would make a difference...how?"

"Well, I just thought..." Peter sighed a bit. Lately he'd been feeling a little out of sorts, and his friends weren't helping much. He wished they could understand him as well as they understood each other.

"Well that's the problem, isn't it!" exclaimed James mock-seriously. "You tried to use your brain, did you? It might help to actually _own_ one, but I suppose you'll just have to make due to way you are..." Sirius snickered and Remus hid his smile behind his ever-present tomb of a book. Peter lowered his eyes. He didn't respond.

"Back to me." Sirius prompted. "I seriously think my head is now empty and that big gray puddle over there is _my_ brain." He grinned suddenly. "Or maybe it's Pete's and I'm just too bored to keep thinking."

Peter scowled to himself. _Git._he thought irritatedly.

"Guys," Sirius whined. "Pay attention to me!" The other boys had returned to their previous activities and were quite content to remain that way. Sirius was not. And when Sirius was unhappy, o-ho, the world knew it.

"Lily!" Sirius shouted out of the blue. "Come and entertain me!" James looked up from his essay on the seventeen most poisonous plants ever discovered. Sirius was watching him with a strange twinkle in his eye, but James was on to him.

"Mate, if you think I'm going to keep falling for that damn trick over and over again, let me tell you, you're dead wro – "

"Hi Sirius!" said a perky voice that James knew very well. He promptly shut up. "Hi James! And Peter and Remus! Hello! Hi! How are you! What's up? What are you all doing later? I'm doing some funnn stuff! I bet you're all sooo jealous! Yeah! Hi! Bye! Okay! I'm going to leave now! BYE!" Lily was almost literally bouncing off the ceiling (not to be confused with the ATeens song) and proceeded to run away after that. James stared after her blankly. Peter was just satisfied because she hadn't said his name last. Remus vowed to check his secret stash of alcohol in the dorm. Sirius sulked because he hadn't gotten entertained long.

Silly Lily. WAIT!

Sirius, eyes wide, knew what he had just stumbled upon in his thoughts.

"Silly Lily, come back! Don't leave me with these lunatics!" screamed Sirius as she ran away. She stopped abruptly. "Phew. Thanks Silly Lily."

Lily turned her head sharply, all signs of hyper perkiness gone with the wind. Not that there was any wind going through the common room at this point, but if there was, it would have taken Lily's hyper perkiness in a _flash_, man, a _flash._

"What did you just call me, Muffin Man?" she practically growled with an attractive eye twitch in her left eye.

"Silly Lily!" Sirius replied happily (and obliviously). Peter thought he might take a nap later.

"Sirius, why do I have the feeling you're going to be assaulted soon?" Remus asked wearily. James took a mental note of how lovely Silly Lily looked when completely _pissed off._ Sirius just waved at them all...still oblivious.

"Hey Remus, how much on Lily beating Sirius bloody?" James asked, trying to earn a few sickles.

Remus weighed Sirius's odds. "All right, I'll take that bet," Remus was pretty sure Sirius was going to "get beaten bloody", but maybe his skin had gotten tougher over the past week. Yeah...and the sky was green.

James and Remus watched Lily's eyes glare at Sirius so hard it was a wonder he didn't combust.

"The correct answer," said Lily menacingly, "was 'Lily'." Sirius tilted his head at her.

"But I did say 'Lily'!" protested he.

"Let me reiterate my point: the correct answer was only one word. And that word was 'Lily'." Lily answered, catching sight of a random floating bunny. She decided to ignore it and go about verbally beating Sirius bloody.

"Does verbally beating him bloody count for me?" asked James.

"Hah, not a chance."

"Damn."

Remus smirked at him, then went back to Sirius vs Lily. Maybe Sirius wouldn't get physically injured? Was there any chance? ...Remus didn't think so either.

"Muffin Man, you better start running – the gingerbread man wasn't joking." Lily threatened. The Marauders were stumped at this. What? Lily saw their stares and explained. "You know... he said he couldn't be caught because he was the gingerbread man and he wasn't joking; he was never caught. That makes it seem like he's either really smart or really fast or both. I was making it seem like I was the gingerbread man. And you look like a muffin when you make that face, thus, Muffin Man." The Marauders all stared at her.

Peter hid a snicker and announced that he was going to take a nap. He was ignored, and swallowing his bad temper, went to bed.

James was the first to choke out a laugh. Remus was half a beat afterwards, but Sirius just sat in stunned silence.

"I look like a muffin?" was clearly all he heard, and so he repeated it, baffled.

"Yeah, when you do that weird look...like now!" Lily exclaimed, her anger forgotten in the effort of making fun of Sirius.

"But, but, that's my sexy look!" Remus burst out laughing and couldn't stop for a good four minutes. James chuckled as well, but was too distracted by Silly Lily's pretty green eyes to laugh for too long. Remus noticed this and rolled his eyes. Lily gave Sirius a disconcerted look.

"That is so sad it's almost funny," she said, looking at Sirius's pouted lips and his wide eyes. He looked like he just ate something he was allergic to and his lips had this "yesh-i-jusht-ate-shomthing-i'm-allergic-to-don't-judshghe-me" look. His eyes only needed a big black stripe around them and he would look like a raccoon with an allergic reaction. Hmm...maybe he didn't look like a muffin. Hah.

James sniggered at him again. Remus tried to hide behind his book (and he_so_ knew what he was asking for for Christmas: a one way transparent book; you see out but nobody can see in) and failed as he wanted to see what was going on and didn't have a one way transparent book.

"Aw, Silly Lily, don't be such a meanyhead!" Sirius complained.

"All right," Silly Lily said, angry again, "I told you already. Make like the gingerbread man and run away really fast." The three Marauders looked at her in confusion. When had she said that?

"When did you say that?" James asked, unable to keep his thoughts hidden. Well, the surface thoughts, anyway.

"What? Oh," she replied dismissively, "I forgot what exactly I'd said about the gingerbread man, but I knew I mentioned him somewhere so I just decided to make it up as I go. Was I off the mark by a lot?" Remus grinned humorously at her, but actually began reading his book again as he was losing interest in the conversation by now. Sirius was sulking again, but was inwardly happy, because, let's face it, he's just a happy kid in general. Or at least, my version of him is and that's all that matters right now. James smiled at her, and Lily found herself a bit breathless all of a sudden. She didn't want to contemplate why.

"Silly Lily," James began (but remembered why she even mentioned the gingerbread man in the first place and winced. Hard.), but he looked at her and saw that he wasn't about to get assaulted by her like Sirius had been. She was smiling at him again, and then she started to laugh, and James couldn't help but laugh with her.

When he heard Sirius leave to go harass his brother, he remembered that he now owed Remus several sickles. Damn.

And by the way Remus was eyeing him, he knew that Remus remembered too. Double damn.

--

_Hehe. You know you wanna review me mateys...and I do apologize for the over-one-year wait for the second chapter. -wince- _

_Sorry about that!_


	3. Pudding Fixes All Maladies

Disclaiming, lawl.

* * *

Well hello all. :D I start school tomorrow. So yeah. Depressing much? I think so. XD.

Sorry about the wait as always. I really don't mean for it to take so long. I just don't write. XD. I mean, I do, but like, I don't. You know? Sort of? Well. That's what happens.

I'm listening to the Jonas Brothers' new album. I like it well enough. I'm not crazy in love with it though. I do like Burnin' Up though. It's really…I don't know, the image of "burning up" for someone just makes me applaud their creativity. So I will concede my irrational hatred of all things Jonas. I do wish they were publicized less, but next to Hannah Montana, I don't think it's that much.

XD.

Cheers all.

* * *

_When you cried, you had my urge to hold you._

--

"Don't start, Black," Lily warned immediately as she stepped through the portrait hole. Sirius opened his mouth in protest, ignoring the fact that yes, he had been about to start. James smirked at him, then turned his smirk on Lily as well. It faltered for a second when he saw that she hadn't stayed for Sirius's retort, but recovered well enough.

"Evans! Hey! Hey, Evans!" James called, grinning, as she turned to face him.

"Is there something you want, Potter, or can I go up to my dorm without you shouting the tower down for me?" Lily said, frowning at him.

"I don't know," James drawled. "I think you should stay and verbally abuse Sirius s'more. He gets off on it, you see." Sirius snorted.

"Oh, is that what we're calling it, now?" he asked, lifting his quill from his parchment. "Because if that's what's going on, then I also get off on Remus lecturing me about the proper usage of commas."

"I think the key phrase there was, 'I get off on Remus.'" James replied, still grinning.

"Well that explains my undivided attention whenever he speaks." Sirius said sarcastically, referring to the fact that whenever Remus said something logical that didn't ultimately make fun of someone other than Sirius himself, it bounced off his head and floated away. The words don't even reach the inside of his head before they're running away in terror.

James laughed loudly. "Padfoot, mate, if you paid any less attention to Remus when he spoke, I think you might just be in another country!" and he glanced at Lily to see if she was enjoying their little banter.

"The ending on that one was a little weak, Prongs," Sirius said critically. "Good try though."

But James wasn't listening. He was looking at Lily. Which of itself wasn't unusual, but the way _she_ looked certainly was. Her face looked different, somehow, but he wasn't sure.

"Evans?" he asked quietly. She lifted her eyes to meet his and he was surprised by the lack of expression her eyes provided. Normally, her eyebrows were furrowed in anger and her face scrunched up and her teeth bared. At that moment, her face revealed nothing of her emotions and that was very different for her.

"What, Potter?" her voice was tired. No, tired isn't quite the right word. Weary, maybe? Maybe weary.

"Um," he said. James shot a look to Sirius, to see if he was going to be of any help, but he was raising an eyebrow in James's direction as well.

"Can I go, or what?" Lily asked after a few seconds of silence. "Or am I going to be hailed through the walls again?"

"One time," Sirius began angrily, "one time I yell for you to come down and see what was going on because it was bleeding _exciting_, okay, I just wanted you to share the experience!"

James rolled his eyes. "

One time," Lily repeated incredulously. "Okay, yeah, it was one actual event, but you called like twenty times in that 'one time'!"

"It was important!" he argued.

"You showed me your shoe fungus." She said flatly. "Because that's just the very definition of important."

"Yes, as a matter of fact, it is."

"Charming little argument, really," James said. "but I actually do have something important to say, if anyone's interested."

"What would you do if we said we weren't?" Sirius asked curiously, completely over the importance of the fungus that grew on his shoe.

James blinked. It hadn't even occurred to him that nobody would be interested in what he had to say.

"That didn't even occur to you, did it?" Sirius said, highly amused.

"What?" James said, inwardly cursing his best friend's ability to read him so well. "Of course it did…"

"Potter!" Lily snapped. "Get to the point!"

"PMSing, are you?" Sirius sounded knowledgeable about this. James hoped he didn't start to offer tips on how to get rid of the symptoms.

"No," Lily growled. James wasn't sure if was a yes-no or a no-no.

"Well, if it's cramps that are making you irritable, then you should just take some –"

"Sirius!" James interrupted, scandalized. "No one wants to know your supposed little PMS home remedies, thanks."

"Potter…" Lily moaned, holding her head in her hands. Sirius and James stopped dead in their tracks and stared at her. They glanced at each other, sharing a thought. James privately wondered if she knew how sexual that sounded. He decided she didn't, and cleared his throat nervously.

"_What_ did you have to say that was so important?" Lily near-shouted.

"Oh." James then remembered that there was something he was going to say. "Um," he said again.

Sirius laughed. Lily always looked surprised whenever Sirius laughs because, despite how many times she's heard it, she's never gotten used to hearing such a dog-like sound coming out of a person.

"Fine, you know what, if you think of it, shout," Lily said, rolling her eyes sarcastically. Sirius smirked, chuckling.

"Will do, Silly Lily," Sirius chirped. Lily made a face at him and stomped up to her dorm. When she was out of range, Sirius said seriously, "You saw it too?"

"The way her face looked really weird before we started talking to her?" James asked, sitting down near his best mate.

"Yeah. I wasn't sure what that was all about, but then I recognized that face." James looked at him quizzically.

"What d'you mean?"

"On my brother." Sirius sighed.

"Lily looked like a pureblooded snob?" James questioned, lips quirking a bit.

"And on me." He finished. "It was right after we went home for Christmas, third year. Remember how much I was dreading it?"

"Yeah," James remembered. "Why'd you even go, anyway? My parents wouldn't've minded if you mysteriously found your way into my trunk and equally mysteriously smuggled into the house."

"Yeah, but d'you remember how I said I had to go home?" Sirius continued.

"Yeah…"

"Well, it was because me and Regulus's uncle had died, and he was really upset over it. I don't know why, though, because Uncle Alphard and him weren't really close. He was one of the only people in my family I even sort of liked."

"Wait, that's why you went home?" James said. "Why didn't you ever tell us?"

"Um," Sirius said, a light flush creeping up his neck. "I might've sort of told Remus."

"Correction," James said, eyebrows raised and trying to hide the hurt he felt at that, "why didn't you ever tell _me_? Or Peter?"

"It, uh, never came up." Sirius shrugged, the flush still there. "But, that's not the point. The point is, I recognize the look on Evans's face from my own during that time. I looked that way every time I looked into a mirror. And I saw that look every time I looked at Regulus for the first couple of days."

"So someone close to her died?" James clarified.

"I really think so." Sirius agreed.

"What should we do, then?" James asked, not really asking Sirius. Sirius sighed.

"I'm not sure. Evans wouldn't even banter with us. That's really what kept me going when we got back. The normalcy of everything."

"I think that's what she wants too, otherwise she would have told someone, wouldn't she have?" James asked.

"We don't know she didn't, do we? Maybe she told Mary."

"Why wouldn't she tell us, then?"

"She who?" Remus inquired, walking up to them. James jumped, not having seen him due to his back being to the portrait hole.

"Where'd you come from, Moony?" James asked curiously.

"Library. What were you guys talking about?"

"Evans," Sirius jumped in. "What else?"

"What about Evans?" Remus said, taking a seat near them and setting his book down. "

We think someone close to her died," James said. "Do you know anything?"

"Yes," Remus said dryly. "But about this in particular? Nope. What made you think someone died?"

"She looked like I did when Uncle Alphard died." Sirius explained. Remus shot a glance at James furtively, but James caught it and narrowed his eyes pointedly. "I told him," Sirius added.

"Any idea on who it might be?" Remus asked.

"Shouldn't that be 'whom'?" Sirius asked, catching Remus off guard.

"What?"

"Isn't 'on' a preposition?"

Remus and James looked at him in astonishment.

"Well, yes…but," Remus began, flustered, "but because I didn't mean literally _on_ someone it doesn't count."

"Oh, okay," Sirius accepted.

"I was lying," Remus said, rolling his eyes, smiling slightly. "I don't actually know if that's true or not. But good catch on the grammar. Which is embarrassing…" Remus muttered under his breath.

"We could…ask Evans, who it was, couldn't we?"

"I thought we agreed on normalcy?" Sirius reminded.

"How am I supposed to treat her normally when all I want to do is feed her pudding?" James said, frustrated.

There was a pause.

"I'm sorry, _what_ did you just say?" Sirius asked, eyes wide and looking like he was about to break into laughter at any given moment.

"What?" James asked.

"Did you just say you wanted to feed her _pudding_?" Remus contributed, also looking like he was about to burst into laughter.

"What? No."

"Yes, you did!" Sirius said at once. "You said you just want to feed her pudding!"

"Why on earth would I do that?" James said, rubbing the back of his neck and chuckling nervously.

"James," Remus said, seemingly fed up. "You love her."

Now it was Remus who got the weird looks.

"I say I want to feed her pudding and you say that means I'm in love with her?"

Remus smirking, James reflected later, was a very scary sight.

"I said you love her. Not that you're _in_ love with her."

Sirius got where this was going.

"Why would you instantly assume that Moony here meant you were in love with Evans?" he asked deviously.

"Because that's the first thing people think of when someone says the word love!" James defended.

"Oh really?" Remus asked. "So if I said I loved my mum, the first thing you would think of would be that I'm in love with my mum?"

James tried to cover his laughter out of respect for his friend.

"Um, you know what?" came a voice. "I think I'll just go to the library later." And Lily turned tail and ran right back up the stairs.

The three boys broke into laughter, finally.

"That was classic." Sirius said with satisfaction.

"Oh yeah." James agreed. "But seriously, how do I act normal?"

"Good question." Remus interrupted, grinning. Sirius smirked and James sulked.

"Jamie my boy, no one knows how you're supposed to act normal. Especially around Evans."

"What does that even mean?" James demanded.

"It means that you are in love with her." Remus repeated. "Get over it."

Sirius laughed, that barking cackle of his, while James looked flabbergasted.

"Did you just…?"

"Yes," Remus said flatly. "I did."

"You can't do that!" James said.

"Well, I did."

"But you can't do that!"

"Wait, why not?" Sirius broke in.

"Because!" James said.

"Great reason." Sirius rolled his eyes.

"But – !"

He saw Lily coming down again, and Remus saw it too, this time.

"I'm going upstairs." Remus said suddenly. "Sirius, come with me. I'm afraid to go by myself since that thing attacked my feet this morning."

"What?" Sirius said, confused. He looked over Remus's shoulder and understanding dawned on him. "Don't diss Ralph," he complained. "He's a really good pet!"

"Not when he attacks me in that disaster zone you call our room." Remus countered.

"You call it our room too, you know," Sirius said. Remus, used to Sirius honing in on one part of his statement, didn't bat an eye at this seemingly random subject change.

"Well, if there was a way I could get a different room, I would take it in a heartbeat."

"Ralph would be very hurt to hear that, Remus." Sirius said. "Besides, what if it's with Snape or something? Do you really want to chance something like that?"

"Better than being mauled by some creature you accidentally created." James couldn't hear anymore of their conversation. And frankly, he wasn't sure he wanted to hear anymore of it.

_Normalcy_, he thought intently.

"Hey, Evans," he said lamely.

"Hey, Potter," she said in a small voice.

"You all right?" he asked. Lily didn't meet his eyes, and turned away from him.

"No." she said honestly.

"What happened?"

"My – my dad died a couple days ago. I just found out a couple of hours ago." She replied, swallowing.

There was a silence that was becoming sadly familiar to James that day as he thought wildly for something to say.

"How'd he, um," James didn't know how to say this with taste.

"Car accident," Lily replied shortly, getting the gist of what he'd asked.

"Oh."

"Yeah." She still had that same expressionless face on.

"I'm really sorry." James said, eyes and words sincere. When she smiled a little at him, it was watery and small, but he took it as it was.

"Thanks. I – really miss him." She said, sitting down next to him. "It doesn't even make sense because I wouldn't have seen him any time soon anyway. But just knowing – knowing that he isn't going to be waiting for me at the Platform in June…." She blinked rapidly.

"You can cry if you want," James offered in the small voice she had used, not knowing how to deal with this. Lily let out a choked laugh.

"I don't want to cry!" she said, tears falling down her face. "I want to be – be brave and strong, and if I cry, I'm not."

"I hope you weren't expecting me to agree with you, because I don't, and I'm not going to pretend to." James said frankly.

"W-what?"

"That's a load of crap. Not your feelings," he clarified quickly, "but that if you don't show your emotions, or even feel them, that it makes you brave and strong. I may not be the best example of this, but it's perfectly fine to _grieve._" James said fiercely.

At that, the tears just fell right out of her eyes. For a while, it was sort of like she wasn't even crying, the tears just coming out while she just stared at him. But soon enough, she crumpled into heart-wrenching sobs.

All he wanted to do was hug her – pudding wouldn't have helping in this case; she probably would've just not eaten it, anyway – so he did.

And he didn't let go until she stopped crying, a long time later. And neither did she.

* * *

Third chapter, yay! Let's hope for number four (last) soon, soon, soon!

Ok, I definitely think this is the best one. xD.

:D

Review, hey?

Cheers all (again). :D


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